By their very nature, weird interview questions are virtually impossible to prepare for. But in his book — subtitled “Trick Questions, Zen-like Riddles, Insanely Difficult Puzzles, and Other Devious Interviewing Techniques You Need To Know to Get a Job Anywhere in the New Economy” — William Poundstone offers a few general pointers for dealing with one.

Number one: persist. Even if you’re grasping at straws, keep grasping until the interviewer calls time. There’s a reason nobody writes “quitter” on a resume.

Talk your way through the problem, both because it cuts uncomfortable silences and because “sometimes the brain follows the mouth.”

Asking the interviewer for clarifications is a good way to keep the ball rolling and dig for clues. So is restating the question; in addition to making sure you have the details right, you can sometimes expose subtle tricks in the way a question is worded.